Romans 3:20
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
KJV
διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας.
Greek NT
quia ex operibus legis non justificabitur omnis caro coram illo. Per legem enim cognitio peccati.
Vulgate
because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.
ASV
Because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before him. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Douay-Rheims
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In the original Greek
14 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.
αὐτός
autos
pronoun · 5564×
γάρ
gar
conjunction · 1036×
διά
dia
preposition · 633×
δικαιόω
dikaioo
verb · 39×
διότι
dioti
conjunction · 25×
νόμος
nomos
noun · 196×
οὐ
ou
particle · 1626×
πᾶς
pas
adjective · 1226×
σάρξ
sarx
noun · 147×
ἁμαρτία
amartia
noun · 173×
ἐκ
ek
preposition · 915×
ἐνώπιον
enopion
preposition · 93×
ἐπίγνωσις
epignosis
noun · 20×
ἔργον
ergon
noun · 169×
Intertextual echoes
This verse quotes or alludes to 1 earlier text.
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Ps 143:2 · exact_quote"And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified."Psalm 143: no one living is righteous before you — Paul on justification
Themes
Historic Christian voices
17 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.
§708This divine pedagogy appears especially in the gift of the Law.72 God gave the letter of the Law as a "pedagogue" to lead his people towards Christ.73 But the Law's powerlessness to save man deprived of the divine "likeness," along with the growing awareness of sin that it imparts,74 enkindles a desire for the Holy Spirit. the lamentations of the Psalms bear witness to this. In…
Source. Translated by J. Walker, J. Sheppard and H. Browne, and revised by George B. Stevens. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210207.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Adven…
City of God · 3 passages
Chapter 2.—Of Carnal Life, Which is to Be Understood Not Only of Living in Bodily Indulgence, But Also of Living in the Vices of the Inner Man. First, we must see what it is to live after the flesh, and what to live after the spirit. For any one who either does not recollect, or does not sufficiently weigh, the language of sacred Scripture, may, on first hearing what we have sa…
Chapter 4.—What It is to Live According to Man, and What to Live According to God. When, therefore, man lives according to man, not according to God, he is like the devil. Because not even an angel might live according to an angel, but only according to God, if he was to abide in the truth, and speak God’s truth and not his own lie. And of man, too, the same apostle says in ano…
Chapter 4.—That Proofs of the Last Judgment Will Be Adduced, First from the New Testament, and Then from the Old. The proofs, then, of this last judgment of God which I propose to adduce shall be drawn first from the New Testament, and then from the Old. For although the Old Testament is prior in point of time, the New has the precedence in intrinsic value; for the Old acts the…
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Calvin shows that Paul's conclusion is devastating: there is none righteous, no not one. The advantage of the Jew lay in having the oracles of God, but this did not exempt them from condemnation. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, for the law is a mirror that shows sin, not a ladder to climb to righteous…
The words of the law are spoken not to affirm the power of the will, but to enlighten blind reason, so that it may see that its own light is nothing and that the power of the will is nothing. "By the law is the knowledge of sin," says Paul. He does not say "the abolition of sin" or "the power for righteousness." The entire function and power of the law is only to give knowledge…
The holy Synod declares first that, for the correct and sound understanding of the doctrine of Justification, it is necessary that each one recognize and confess that, whereas all men had lost their innocence in the prevarication of Adam, having become unclean, and, as the apostle says, by nature children of wrath, they were so far the servants of sin and under the power of the…
Heidelberg Catechism · 2 passages
Q. How do you come to know your misery? A. The law of God tells me.
Q. No one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly: why then does God want them preached so pointedly? A. First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that, while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may never stop striving to be …
In this respect, what is true of the light of nature is true also of the Ten Commandments given by God through Moses specifically to the Jews. For human beings cannot obtain saving grace through the Decalogue, because, although it does expose the magnitude of their sin and increasingly convict them of their guilt, yet it does not offer a remedy or enable them to escape from the…
For the instruction and memory of man, God has given his law, which is expressed in the Decalogue, and which holy men of God before Moses had received from the tradition of the fathers. We teach that in this law the will of God is explained to us: what he wills and what he does not will, what is good and just and what is evil and unjust. We therefore confess that the law is goo…
The Formula affirms the proper distinction between Law and Gospel as the key to all Scripture. The Law reveals sin, condemns, and drives to repentance; the Gospel reveals Christ, forgives, and creates faith. It denies that the Gospel is a preaching of repentance or that the Law is a means of justification. It also denies that the regenerate are free from the Law's instruction, …
Cross-references
- 1John 3:4 — Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
- 2Cor 3:6 — Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
- 2Tim 1:9 — Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
- Acts 13:39 — And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
- Deut 5:26 — For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
- Eph 2:8 — For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
- Eph 2:9 — Not of works, lest any man should boast.
- Gal 2:16 — Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
- Gal 2:19 — For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
- Gal 3:10 — For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
- Gal 3:21 — Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
- Gal 5:4 — Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
- Gal 5:4 — Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
- Gen 3:11 — And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
- Gen 6:7 — And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
- Jas 2:9 — But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
- Jas 2:20 — But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
- Job 9:2 — I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
- Job 15:15 — Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
- Job 25:4 — How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
- Luke 16:15 — And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
- Luke 18:14 — I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
- Ps 19:8 — The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
- Ps 130:3 — If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
- Ps 130:3 — If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
- Ps 143:2 — And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
- Ps 143:2 — And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
- Rom 2:13 — (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
- Rom 2:13 — (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
- Rom 3:28 — Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
- Rom 3:28 — Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
- Rom 4:2 — For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
- Rom 4:6 — Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
- Rom 4:13 — For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
- Rom 4:15 — Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
- Rom 5:13 — (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
- Rom 5:20 — Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
- Rom 7:5 — For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
- Rom 7:7 — What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
- Rom 7:7 — What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.